The Long Night

In Givreval the first real snow has finally fallen. Garlands of holly and candles hang from the beams of the Golden Stag, the mulled wine smells of cinnamon, and for once nobody is trying to kill anybody. Tomorrow is the Long Night: the solstice feast, when candles are lit in every window, when children are given presents, and when people say the Good Walker goes from house to house to reward the little ones. A lovely legend. A reassuring one.

Except that this year the children are disappearing. Five of them, in five nights. Always after sundown, always from their beds, doors shut and windows closed. No forced locks, no tracks. The militia finds nothing, and the feast is tomorrow evening.

"My own daughter is sleeping beside her window tonight, and I no longer dare close my eyes. I will pay whatever you ask. Find them. Find them before the Long Night."

A standalone one-shot, built for a single session and requiring nothing known in advance. It takes place in the world of Aethon, the world of The Ashes of Omu, but plays perfectly well on its own. Four acts following a very deliberate curve: the fairy tale first, played to the hilt, the tavern, the snow and the laughter; then the unease; then something else. The trail starts in town, pushes into frozen woods and climbs towards the mountain, to a place no legend quite dares describe. What the heroes find there, the booklet tells the gamemaster alone.